Cain tries to help out against the robot as well, but without much success. His own strike barely scratches the paint on the metal construct.

Probably another miss:
11:37, Today: Cain rolled 11,5 using 1d20+7,1d8+1 with rolls of 4,4.  Flanking (Attack, Damage).

Yeah, Cain is going to be pretty much useless in a fight until he hits level 3. Luckily Kalasha is still around for now.

Cain hits the downed enemy with a swipe of his blade, the blow generating a spark as metal strikes metal, but does little more than scuff a steel plate on its back. Meanwhile Zorden prepares his musket for another blast, Morin encourages the fighters, and Selsa readies her crossbow and hopes for an opening to shoot at the construct. Now free from the oracle's spell, the robot picks itself up from the ground, leaving an opening for both Cain[Private to Cain: Take an AoO if you like.] and Kalasha. The paladin lands another telling blow(16 Damage) on the enemy before it swipes at her again--but feebly for all the damage it is sustaining. Without letting up, Kalasha lashes out once more with her great blade, nearly knocking its arm off for all her effort(10 Damage).
New Round, Everyone Up
Group 0 Map Updated

22:46, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Kalasha Roadsworn, rolled 26,16 using d20+9,2d6+7 with rolls of 17,3,6.  Attack/Damage v Bot.
22:51, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 7,9 using d20+6,1d4+6 with rolls of 1,3.  Bot Attack/Damage v Kalasha.
22:55, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Kalasha Roadsworn, rolled 23,10 using d20+9,2d6+7 with rolls of 14,2,1.  Attack/Damage v Bot.[Private to GM: Cain: Full HP, -1 Spell
Kalasha: -2 HP
Morin: Full HP, -3 Spells
Sesla: -5 HP, -2 Spells
Zorden: Full HP, -3 Bullets
Robot: -28 HP (-11 - 5 + 2 HP this round)]
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:02, Mon 03 Jan 2022.

Zorden kept his weapon ready but held his fire.

Kalasha seemed to have the bot on the ropes and he wasn't confident he could safely make the shot with Cain and Kalasha tangling with the machine.

OOC: Keeping a ready action to attack should the battle turn or another threat present itself

Cain likewise strikes at the machine as it gets up again. "Why won't you just die already?!"

AoO, then attacking again. And for once I rolled well, 18 damage if that's a crit.
13:26, Today: Cain rolled 16,5 using 1d20+7,1d8+1 with rolls of 9,4.  AoO (Attack, Damage).
13:27, Today: Cain rolled 26,9 using 1d20+7,1d8+1 with rolls of 19,8.  Flanking (Attack, Damage).
13:28, Today: Cain rolled 23 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 16.  Crit?

As the others piled onto the robot, Morin tried to back them up by entangling the machine with his makeshift lasso.  It didn't go well, but it seemed like Cain and Kalasha didn't need much help dismantling the thing.

READIED: Lasso attack.  Miss with -3 (including penalty for throwing into melee).
STANDARD: Lasso attack.  Miss with 0.
FREE: Stop inspiring courage.

OOC: On re-read of the description, I think if you miss a lasso attack you can just keep attacking, unlike with a net.  Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

With a pair of quick swings at the robot's exposed rear, Cain manages to hit something important under its plated exterior and with a loud pop, a spark, and a puff of dark smoke the construct grinds to a halt--slumping slightly but still standing rigidly upright as the red light of its central eye and other various, blinking lights quickly fade out.
Repair Drone Defeated! 150 XP each.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:45, Tue 04 Jan 2022.

Kalasha, in the process of making ready for another mighty swing, hesitates as the robot falls into what looks like a standing sleep. Relaxing her stance but still wary of the enemy possibly springing to life again, she reaches out and gives it a solid prod. It remains rigid and unmoving, even slipping along the floor at her push. Looking to the others, the doubtful half-orc asks simply, "...is it dead?"

"Probably."  Zorden speculated in regards to the bot.

He then turned his attention towards the door Kalasha had been levering open, wondering what was important enough to agitate the machine into attacking them.

"I certainly hope so." Cain adds as he joins Zorden at the stuck doors, curious to see what this machine was guarding.

Did Kalasha make any real progress on opening it? Can we squeeze under it or do we have to lift it more?

"I don't."  Morin replied sadly, moving to the fallen robot while everyone else lost interest.

The little bard doffed his hat in respect to the fallen machine.  There was just a hint of a tear in his eyes. "Farewell, repair droid. You traveled to our world from distant lands unknown and spent nine thousand years buried underground, waiting to be discovered again, only to get hacked to death by your discoverers while trying to protect a door from 'vandalism'. I hope you were just a mindless machine, and not a thinking, feeling creature that just had poor communication skills.  Your death would be pretty tragic, otherwise."

Putting his hat back on his head, Morin pulled out a pocket knife and started enthusiastically prying open a panel on the dead robot's corpse.  "I wonder if we can use it's body for anything?  I mean, this is advanced technology, right?  It's gotta be full of...like, batteries and motors and stuff.  Maybe someone back in torch would buy it!"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:14, Wed 05 Jan 2022.

Kalasha continues to watch the now statue-like enemy cautiously, debating with herself whether she should risk her blade to continue hacking it apart until Morin begins his process of dissecting it. With the strangely commanding Selsa watching over the investigation, Kalasha reluctantly turns her back on the standing foe and returns to work on the closed door. With the crowbar wedged in, the mighty paladin is able to get a good grip beneath it and with considerable effort pushes it into the ceiling until something seems to catch and the door remains recessed above and within the door frame. On the other side is what once may have been a hallway leading away from the door but now is little more than a closet of rubble--only a few feet within the room ends in a wall of mixed metal, stone, and hanging wires.

Morin's inspection of the robot's insides, although most of it is far beyond his understanding, yields better results. Tightly packed within the length of its right arm, possibly designed to be fired from its palm by some mechanism, are a series of five combat nets made of an unfamiliar but very strong material(10 HP vs 5 HP, DC 27 vs 25 to Break.) Morin suspects they could fetch a good price on the market. [Private to Morin Matzylford: They are sized for Medium, but I'd rule you could trade one of them to have another resized for Small--or even trade just the excess material to have the net cut back small enough for you to use(but it would then only be effective against Small and Medium targets.)]

Zorden moved cautiously into the collapsed space to give it a closer look and perhaps a prod or two.

Whatever used to be here the machine seemed awfully concerned about it, which may mean a few moments of investigation would be worthwhile.

Unless it was just responding to them trying to open the door itself with no discretion as to what may lay behind it.  In which case it was a lot of effort for nothing.

Morin stretched out one of the nets, looking it over and examining the heft of it.  "This thing is nice!  A bit big for me, but the rope seems really sturdy.  Maybe I could get a lasso made out of this stuff when we get back to Torch!  Anybody want one?"  Five nets weighed about 30 lbs, and Morin certainly wasn't going to carry that much weight around.  So any that weren't picked up by the stronger members of his party were left there on the ground to recover on the way back.

Then Morin turned his attention to the room with the strange nozzles.  Standing back from the door, he sent in his unseen servant to check for traps.  First he had it carry the lit torch inside to light the way for his darkvision-impaired companions, then he had it poke around the nozzles and their control panels to see if that had any effect.  Finally, he had the servant grab the heaviest piece of rubble it could drag (about 50 lbs), and haul it from one end of the room to the other, in case there was some form of pressure panel in the floor.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:08, Thu 06 Jan 2022.

Cain passes on the nets. "Not really something I have the skill to use properly. I'll stick to just stabbing things for now."

He joins Zorden While Morin checks the room ahead for surprises. "Looks like a dead end. Do you see anything of value in there?"

Poking through the rubble of the collapsed room reveals nothing of interest and Morin's careful direction of his unseen servant uncovers no hidden traps. Not wanting to leave anything valuable behind, Kalasha picks up the bundles of nets and stores them in her pack and with the others unable to find any traps in the next room, she cautiously enters ahead of anyone else--trusting her armor to protect her. When nothing happens, she turns back, shrugs, and asks, "Ready to move on?"

With nothing of note in the two adjacent rooms, Zorden nodded to Kalasha.

Might as well move forward, cautiously, at least a bit.

Still glaring suspiciously at the strange nozzles, Cain follows after Kalasha. "Maybe I should go first after Morin's servant. If there are any surprises ahead that his spell can't trigger, I stand the best chances of spotting them before we stubble into them."

Cain's a rogue, so this is in his job description. And Kalasha may be an NPC now, but she is still our best bet in combat. So, when Morin orders his servant forward, Cain will follow after it stealthy down the tunnel, then give a signal for other to follow down as well if it's all clear. DM can make any rolls for Cain he thinks are necessary.

What's the lighting condition here anyway, we don't have to carry our own light anymore, do we? Kinda pointless to try to be stealthy when you carry a lit torch.

This message was deleted by the player at 19:23, Sun 09 Jan 2022.

Morin nodded and fell in quietly beside Cain, not saying anything for once.  For all his chatter, the little man could move surprisingly quiet when he wanted to.  His unseen servant took up the lit torch, and continued down the hallway, doing it's best to imitate an invisible gnome with a torch in hand.

OOC: Also stealthing ahead, since he needs to see the servant.  If possible, I take 10 on the stealth checks for a total of 20.

The party proceeds carefully onward into stone cave beyond the strange, metal rooms with Morin's invisible thrall in front--dragging itself along the ground to trigger any traps and holding a torch to light the way. Cain follows closely behind, pressing himself against the cave walls to try to stay hidden despite the torchlight. Behind him is Kalasha, stomping along despite her best efforts to quiet her armor, and Morin acting as stealthy as he can despite having to dip and lean to see past the others and direct his servant. Zorden and Sesla take up the rear--both more accustomed to ranged combat and Sesla's hide armor at least protecting her from any attack from behind.

The stone walls of the cave quickly turn north and just as quickly end in ... blackness. The stone ground turns to sand well before the cave ends and that sand continues on as far as the torchlight reaches and dark eyes can see, but, at least directly out from cave's exit, there are no walls or ceiling to be seen. Something in the air tells you that this is more than just a large cavern, but before anyone has a chance figure out what it is Cain is startled to find himself suddenly anchored to the ground. Strange, purple tendrils grow quickly up from the sands, ensnaring his feet and continuing up his legs. Searching about to figure out what is going on, he finally spots some kind of purple mass of tentacles slithering out from within a grey, coral-like structure just outside the cave.
Combat Begins! Everyone beat the enemy's Initiative, so everyone can act now.
Group 0 Map Updated.

Cain is Entangled and anchored; Full-Round Strength Check DC 14 to break free, or attack the tendrils(No AC, just roll damage.)
[Private to Morin Matzylford: (Rolled 2, taking 10) Morin doesn't recognize this creature although it is some kind of aberration, but he gets a good feeling that the coral it is hidden in makes for good protection, the tentacles reaching out from that coral would be quite good at beating prey, and the tendrils from the ground are likely an extension of the monster meant to immobilize its prey.]
[Private to GM: Cain: Full HP, -1 Spell, Entangle: 4 Rounds
Kalasha: -2 HP
Morin: Full HP, -3 Spells
Sesla: -5 HP, -2 Spells
Zorden: Full HP, -3 Bullets]
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:23, Mon 10 Jan 2022.

"Oh shit, that thing's big!"  Morin yelled as he got a glimpse of the huge tentacle mass just outside of the cave.  He had no magic left to cast, and barely anything else he could bring to the table, aside from his lasso.

Fortunately, this seemed like the perfect time for a lasso!  Morin threw the rope to Cain where he was trapped, and pulled it taut with all of his (completely pathetic) strength.  His unseen servant dropped the torch onto the sand and also grabbed the rope, adding it's minor might to the equation.

"Okay, uh...let's all get off of the sand!  We back up into the metal part and come up with a plan.  I don't know if that thing can move or not, but it looks like it's using that rock for protection."  Morin improvised a plan, holding the end of the rope behind him for Sesla and Zorden. "Unless anyone else has any bright ideas?"

STANDARD: Throw lasso to Cain.
MOVE: Direct unseen servant to aid the next strength check to free Cain:  Rolled a 13, which should let it add +2 to the roll.
FREE: 5' step west, if that's possible.

This message was last edited by the player at 05:42, Mon 10 Jan 2022.

"Get the hell off me!" Seeing the mass of tentacles coming his way is more than enough motivation for Cain to break free. He uses the rope thrown to him and Morin's spell to pull himself out of the grasp of the tendrils.

Well that was embarrassing, getting caught so easily right after taking point. Anyway, I wasn't sure if the Servant's help counts or not, but dice roller decided to be cooperative today, so it does not matter.

Full round action to get out of this mess, then 5' step... SW, if that's possible?
14:48, Today: Cain rolled 19 using 1d20 with rolls of 19.  Strength Check DC 14.

As Cain pulled free without the need for assistance, Zorden moved backwards to allow everyone ahead of him to put some distance between themselves and the tentacled beast.

Moving as needed so folks can also move and not end up stacked atop each other.

As Cain manages to wrestle himself free of the growing tendrils, the entire party begins to move back through the cave to make room and to regroup. But hope soon fades as the monstrosity slaps two tentacles down into the sand and in a display of great strength drags itself and its rocky home into the narrow cave--its coral-like carapace scraping against the cave walls as it enters and all the sand in a wide area around it shifting as it 'swims.' Again, purple tendrils begin rising from the sandy floor to grab at Cain's feet.
Cain: DC 14 Fort Save or be Entangled again.
New Combat Round, everyone up.
Group 0 Map Updated.[Private to GM: Cain: Full HP, -1 Spell, Entangle?
Kalasha: -2 HP
Morin: Full HP, -3 Spells
Sesla: -5 HP, -2 Spells
Zorden: Full HP, -3 Bullets]

Seeing the predicament Cain is in, Kalasha dips down to scrape at the tendrils vigorously with the tip of her great blade and manages to damage them enough that they release their grip on the rogue and withdraw back beneath the sand.

She moved back to make space for her ally to step away from the beast.

Standard: attack tendrils
Move: go 15' back

15:07, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Kalasha Roadsworn, rolled 15 using 2d6+6 ((6,3)).
This message was last edited by the player at 14:41, Tue 11 Jan 2022.